Domino
Euchre and Variations

This is an archive copy of a page from the former website cardsanddominoes.com, with thanks to Howard Fosdick for permission to republish it here.

Euchre was the most popular social card game in the U.S. from the
middle of the 1800’s to the end of the century. It’s the game for
which the Joker was invented, probably by the Pennsylvania Dutch.
Euchre means Joker.

Euchre is an easy but fun partnership game for four players. Hands
are quick, at only five tricks each, so if you’re dealt a poor one
you have but a minute or two to wait until you get another.

The game is simple, yet it has its subtleties. Players’ strategies
often change as one team approaches the game point across hands.
These shifts give the game a certain fascination.

Given Euchre’s popularity, it was a cinch that players adapted the
game for dominoes. You’ll find dominoes add the slight twist that
takes game play up a notch. We’ve reconstructed these rules from
an old copy of Hoyle’s Standard Games from about
1900 published by Laird and Lee.

Domino Euchre

Goal

To win the game by being first
to accumulate 5 points across as many hands as necessary.

The Deck and Players

You can play domino Euchre as two
or three individuals, but the game is by far best as a four-player
partnership game.

Use a standard 6-6 set of dominoes.

Dominoes are arranged in suits in the same manner as most other
domino games that use the tiles as “cards” to play to tricks--

---Suit---

<--high
Members
low-->

6’s

6-6
6-5
6-4 6-3
6-2 6-1
6-0

5’s

5-5
5-6
5-4 5-3
5-2 5-1
5-0

4’s

4-4
4-6
4-5 4-3
4-2 4-1
4-0

3’s

3-3
3-6
3-5 3-4
3-2 3-1
3-0

2’s

2-2
2-6
2-5 2-4
2-3 2-1
2-0

1’s

1-1
1-6
1-5 1-4
1-3 1-2
1-0

Blanks

0-0
0-6
0-5 0-4
0-3 0-2
0-1

Each suit consists of 7
tiles. The key point is that the double or doublet
is the highest tile in each suit.

Appoint one player “dealer” and shuffle all dominoes
face-down. The dealer rotates clockwise in subsequent
hands.

Each player takes 5 tiles into his hand.

Bidding

The dealer now turns one of the remaining unused
dominoes face-up. The higher number on this tile is the
proposed trump. If the turn-up is a doublet, the
single number on its face is the proposed trump.

The player to the left of the dealer may either--

Pass

Accept
the proposed trump as the trump suit

Accept
the proposed trump as the trump suit and say “I play
alone”

If the player passes, the same opportunity passes to the
next player (clockwise).

This process continues until either a player has
accepted the proposed trump suit, or all four players
have passed.

If all four players pass without anyone accepting the
trump suit, the opportunity to make trump passes around
a second time. This time each player may either--

Pass

State any
suit (other than the initial proposed trump suit), that
he
will play with as the trump suit

State any
suit (other than the initial proposed trump suit), that
he
will play with alone as the trump suit

If no one accepts a trump suit after two times around
the table, the hand is thrown in, and the next person in
clockwise rotation becomes the “dealer.”

The Trump Suit

The trump suit is one
tile longer than any other suit. Its highest tile is the
doublet of that suit, and its second highest tile is the
next lower doublet. For example, if 5 is the trump suit,
the 4-4 is the second-highest trump. From highest to
lowest, the 5-suit trump tiles rank like this--

5-5
4-4 5-6 5-4
5-3 5-2 5-1 5-0

The highest trump is called the right bower. The
second-highest trump is called the left bower.
If 5 suit is trump, these tiles are the 5-5 and 4-4,
respectively.

In the case where the Blank suit is trump, the 6-6
becomes the left bower. So when blanks are trump, the
trump tiles rank like this--

0-0
6-6 0-6 0-5
0-4 0-3 0-2 0-1

All tiles in the trump suit are considered only
members of the trump suit for the duration of the hand
(even though singlets have another suit number on their
face).

Play

If the bidder won a bid
to play alone, his partner lays his tiles face-down.
Neither that player nor his dominoes have any further
role in the hand. Whether played alone or not, the bid
winner leads a tile to the first trick.

All players must follow suit to the first tile led to a
trick. For any non-trump tile lead, the higher number on
the first tile to a trick determines the suit for that
trick. Leading the 6-4, for example, means leading
a 6-suit tile. Any trump lead means that the suit
to follow is the trump suit.

If you can not follow the suit led, you may play any
tile you like.

If any trump tile(s) are played to a trick, the highest
trump played wins the trick. Otherwise the highest tile
of the suit led wins the trick.

The winner of each trick takes the tiles and places them
face-down at his side prior to the next trick. He then
leads any tile to the next trick.

Scoring

If the side who won the bid wins 3 or 4 tricks, they
made their bid. They win 1 point. If they win all 5
tricks, they win 2 points. If they don’t win at least 3
tricks, their opponents win 2 points.

Point scores are the same when a player plays alone,
except that if he wins all 5 tricks, he wins 4 points.

Strategy

Skill in bidding is important in Euchre. Remember the
special role of the left bower when reviewing your hand.

The third and fourth players in bidding will want to be
quite confident in their hands before making trump, as
their partners have already suggested weakness by
passing.

Playing alone is only advantageous if you can win all
five tricks (see Scoring above). Only play alone with a
“slam” hand.

Alternate Rules

These rules are standard from original 19th century
sources. But there are many rules variations for the
card game Euchre you might try with the domino game.
Some play a game to 7 points instead of 5. Most play
that the lead to the first trick is by the player to the
dealer’s left. If played alone, the lead to the
first trick would be the player to the bid winner’s
left. Thus, the bid winner may or may not be the person
leading to the first trick. A few change the
scoring for playing alone such that the bid winner
scores 2 points for winning 3 or 4 tricks (instead of
1).

Many play that the
dealer may exercise the privilege of taking the turn-up
into his hand if the proposed trump as accepted by the
bid winner (in exchange for any other tile in his hand).
A few play that the bid winner has this option. Also,
some believe that the player who leads a trick states
which suit that tile belongs to, rather than suit being
determined by the higher number on the tile.

More Information

From the entry for “Domino Euchre” in Hoyle’s
Standard Games, by Laird and Lee,
1908.

Call-Ace
Domino Euchre

This variant changes the above
rules of Domino Euchre by eliminating fixed
partnerships. Instead, prior to leading to the first
trick, the bid winner declares another suit that will
determine who his partner is for the hand.

The suit he declares cannot be the trump suit or the
suit from which the left bower comes. For example, if
the trump suit is 5, the bid winner must pick some suit
other than the 5’s or 4’s suits.

No one responds to the bid winner’s declaration of who
his partner is. Instead, players must figure it out for
themselves during the play of the hand.

The result is that the holder of the partner tile
knows that he is the bid winner’s partner, but no one
else does -- including the bid winner -- until this tile
surfaces during play.

Another possibility is that the bid winner is playing
alone because he himself holds the partner tile.
No one will no this but the bid winner.

A third possibility is that the partner tile is one of
the several tiles not in play for the hand. In this case
the bid winner will be playing alone but will not know
it!

Scores are kept individually in Call Ace. The
points won by each partnership in each hand are awarded
to both members of the partnership. The first player to
win 5 points across hands is the Game winner.

Call Ace increases the “luck factor” in Euchre, but it
also increases the fun factor. Try it for a change after
you’ve tired of standard Euchre. The game works as well
for five players as four.

Euchre
(with playing cards)

Euchre was the most popular family card game in America
during the mid-19th century. People who had religious
restrictions about playing cards played Domino Euchre. Here are standard rules for the card
game:

Players, Cards and Deal: This is a four-player
partnership game. Partners should sit across from one
another. Use a 24 card deck (you can create this by
removing all cards below the 9 from a standard 52-card
deck). Deal 5 cards to each player, and turn one card up
to indicate the suggested trump suit.

Bidding: Starting with the player to the dealer's
left, each player in turn can either accept the suit of
the turned up card as the trump suit for the hand, or
say “pass”. If no player accepts the turned up suit as
trump, the players go round a second time and say if
there is any suit they want to play as trump. If
everyone passes in this second round, the hand is tossed
in and the player to the left of the dealer deals
everyone a new hand.

As soon as any player accepts a trump suit, the bidding
round halts. That player will lead to the first trick.
The player can also optionally announce “I play alone”,
in which case his partner places his hand face-down on
the table. That player and his cards take no further
part in play.

If the turn-up card suit was accepted as trump, the
Dealer may optionally take it into his hand and discard
any card face-down.

Play: The bid winner leads any card he likes to
the first trick. Each player around the table in turn
plays a card to the trick. Players must follow suit if
possible, otherwise they can play any card.

Each trick is won by the highest trump, if any are
played. Otherwise the highest card of the suit led wins
the trick. The trick winner places the four cards from
the trick face-down at his side and leads any card he
likes to the next trick.

Scoring: After all five tricks are played, points
are awarded for the hand as follows: